1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a damper device for smoothly opening or shutting a door, a lid or the like used in household electrical appliances, a dashboard glove compartment, or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, doors or lids, which will hereinafter simply be referred to as doors, of household electrical appliances, vehicle glove compartments, various kinds of furniture, and the like, have used a damper device in which a rack is provided upon the door and a pinion is provided upon the appliance so as to mesh with the rack. The pinion is provided with a damper utilizing the viscous property of an oil in order to generate a resisting force against the pivotal motion of the door. The opening speed of the door is thus controlled so as to provide smooth opening thereof and to protect the door hinges as well as the door itself from the adverse effects of any shock forces. At the same time, the person who opens the door experiences a better "feel" from the operation, as disclosed, for example, within U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,266.
However, in such a conventional damper device, since the resisting force of the damper is comparatively weak, it is designed so that the speed of rotation of the pinion is increased in order to increase the resisting force against the motion of the door. In this case, the rack itself inevitably becomes bulky and, in addition, one end of the rack must be secured near a free end of the door. Therefore, the opening and shutting operation of the door may encounter interference. Furthermore, the above-mentioned structure is inconvenient as regards the movement of articles into and out of the compartment closed by means of the door. Moreover, since the pinion is rotated at a comparatively high rate of speed, its service life tends to be shortened. While use of a damper having a large capacity might be considered, such a damper is bulky and leads to increased unit fabrication costs.